2021 HCG Report

Harvest Community Garden (HCG) is a nonprofit organization that enables people from the community to come together to grow produce organically and donate half of it to a local food pantry.

The garden is a member of Community Gardens of Carrollton (501c3) and is a partner of the North Texas Food Bank (NTFB).

HCG is located on the south side of Redeemer Covenant Church’s property at 1518 E Frankford Rd, Carrollton, TX.

There are 24 raised beds (20’ x 4’), and members of the community can adopt a whole or a half plot for a year. The garden also has an asparagus bed, a pollinators’ garden, blackberries, and a xeriscape garden which volunteers can help care for.

The Board: The Board is made up of Chairman Stan Basnett, two Redeemer members (Sean Flynn & Sherry Thweatt/Dennis Carlson), three community members (Steven Pliler, Linda Lee & Kim Lester), and a Board member of Community Gardens of Carrollton (Cindy Baxley). They met on December 7^th.

Donations to Local Food Pantries: We donated 1,922 lbs. of organically grown tomatoes, peppers, peas, leafy greens, herbs, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, carrots, potatoes, beans, melons, radishes, celery, and many other things. 116 lbs. went to Christian Community Action and 1,806 lbs. went to Metrocrest Services.

We Had Many Gardeners This Year: 20 people signed up to tend garden plots during 2021. In spite of the pandemic, we always had a good turnout for Saturday harvests.

Some of Activities & Accomplishments in 2021:

The 2021 Gardener Orientation Meeting was January 23rd at 1:00 p.m. We had planned to hold it at the Garden (due to COVID) but it was a rainy day, so new gardeners met inside the church and returning gardeners simply turned in plot agreements.
January: Kim brought another table and 3 chairs. A load of compost was delivered.
February: We began rodent control through Have Pesticide-Will Travel company. Kim fixed the broken asparagus bed frame and a broken irrigation pipe. Texas had a huge winter deep freeze the 12^th – 20^th. Kim got rabbit poo for the garden.
March: We started bringing donations to Metrocrest because CCA closed their pantry on Saturdays. Lori picked up pepper plants from NTFB. Kim installed timers on the faucets, and a leaking hose was replaced.
April: NTFB asked its partner gardens to report monthly donations. Lori is taking care of that. Karen Gilboux began a project creating a mosaic sign for the garden. A shade umbrella was installed by the shed. Lori attended a NTFB garden tour.
May: Beneficial nematodes were applied to the plots.
July: Linda donated vermiculite, perlite, blood meal, and DE. Emily from NTFB visited the garden.
September: UTD students helped dig a post hole for the mosaic sign, spread mulch, and cleaned up beds. Kim’s grandson offered to mulch gardeners’ walkways for a fee.
October: UTD students worked on the other signpost, fence, shed, and cleaning plots. On the 23^rdKim & Linda went to a community gardening class put on by DCHHS Obesity Prevention Program.
December: The Board met to plan for 2022. NTFB asked all gardens to pass out food fliers. Lori picked up donations from NTFB: compost, hand tools, a holder and the fliers they want us to pass out, trays, and a couple plants. Lori created fliers for the 2022 meeting and posted on Facebook and the website.